TDMST Weekly Round-Up 2024.01.06 is the trucking commentary on news affecting professional truck drivers for the week ending January 6, 2024, written by Vicki Simons.
We welcome your comments, thoughts and feedback on the items of your choice below.
1. Regarding autonomous vehicles, round up, and weather:
Autonomous vehicles
I adamantly oppose the operation of autonomous, self-driving, or driverless, Commercial Motor Vehicles on the same roads as the motoring public, but share articles to help keep our readers informed.
Please pay very close attention to the last two articles in this section.
- Ambarella, Kodiak Robotics partner to power autonomous trucks
- Aurora freezes designs for autonomous hardware scaling
- Autonomous Aurora Driver Production to Begin in 2027
- Autonomous Trucks Reshaping the Freight Industry
- Bills would ban driverless semi trucks from Indiana roadways
- Company says they’re on target to help deploy driverless semi trucks at scale by 2027
- Driverless Truck Companies Hoping to Ditch Human Copilots
- Law & Order Newsom Style: Driverless Cars Are Untouchable by California Traffic Citations
Round up
Weather
If you plan to drive a commercial motor vehicle this weekend, please pay attention to the weather and drive safety and legally.
- CMV restrictions scheduled for Pennsylvania in preparation for winter weather
- Major storm sweeping the US is expected to bring heavy rain, snow
- PA and NJ issue travel restrictions as storm bears down on East Coast
- Winter storm possible in much of the Eastern U.S. this weekend
2. Regarding outlook 2024 and review 2023:
Outlook 2024
I don’t know how many more predictions regarding the trucking industry this year I’ll see, but these are among them:
- 2024 Trucking Outlook: Eassons Transport
- Check Call: New year, new schemes
- Raise your hand if you survived the first week of 2024
- Start 2024 off right by taking control of your health
- The beginning of a new year is a good time for an insurance review
Review 2023
I don’t know how many more articles will summarize the most recent past year regarding trucking, but these are among them.
- 2023 Rewind: Last year was busy one for major travel center chains
- 2023 Rewind: Year’s top stories detail past year in U.S. trucking industry
- After 2023 price declines, diesel focus turns to its relationship to crude oil
- Bankruptcies, fraud and a missing trucker: Key trucking stories in 2023
- HDT Editor: 2023’s Most Important Trucking Topics
- Mississippi DOT officials tout 2023 as ‘historic’ for transportation
- Rhode Island reviews 2023 transportation achievements
3. Regarding AI, speed limiter, supply chain, and technology:
AI
“AI” stands for Artificial Intelligence.
Speed limiter
- FMCSA misses December deadline on CMV speed limiter ruling
- Waiting Game: industry anticipates FMCSA’s speed limiter ruling
Supply chain
- Clean air and a strong supply chain: Finding common ground in trucking
- Conagra’s supply chain is ‘humming again’
- Running on Ice: Big changes for middle-mile food supply chains
Technology
- 2024 Comdata and T-Chek Averages
- Best Truck Dispatch Software for 2024
- Geotab’s Aftermarket Telematics Kit Earns Approval of CARB
- NHTSA considering impaired driving tech mandate for new cars
- Noregon Enhances PM Tracking Capabilities in TripVision
- The disturbing truth behind the Zyn memes
4. Regarding battery, electric, emissions, fuel, fuel card skimmers, and oil:
Battery
Electric
- Benore Logistics adds 2 electric rigs to fleet
- Completely electrifying the trucking industry could take a ‘lifetime’
- Electric Car Models Eligible for $7,500 Tax Credit Cut to 13
- Electric trucks should shake off setbacks in 2024
- GM Misses 2023 EV Goal by Half as Production Woes Persist
- Nikola sees strong interest in FCEV trucks
- Postal Service EV rollout off to shaky start
- Q&A: One Energy CEO Jereme Kent on Megawatt Truck Charging Hubs
- Rivian’s Quarterly EV Deliveries Fall Short of Estimates
- Wall Street Journal Opinion: California EV Mandate ‘Wasting’ Truckers’ Time
Emissions
- Nikola rises from the zero emission ashes
- State Group Sues Biden Administration Over Emissions Rules
Fuel
- 2024 DOE Regional Diesel Fuel Prices
- Average US diesel prices down across nation
- Diesel Drops 3.8¢ a Gallon to $3.876
- Diesel Prices Eased in 2023 in Lone Bright Spot for Costs
- Early Nikola fuel cell truck buyer confident about hydrogen fuel
- Early Nikola fuel cell truck buyer confident about hydrogen fuel
- Energy Admin, GasBuddy Indicate Diesel Prices Could Drop in 2024
- Fuel averages largely lower
- How Can Trucking Fleets Prepare for Diesel Fuel Prices in 2024?
- Weekly Fuel Report: January 02, 2024
Fuel card skimmers
Although I’ve read articles about such theft devices in other venues, this is the first time that I recall reading about them in a trucking publication.
Please be on your guard every time you use a debit or credit card, a fuel card — or utilize a different scannable card.
Oil
- Daily Infographic: Brent crude oil prices averaged $19 per barrel less in 2023 than 2022
- Oil’s Ample Supply Has Analysts Seeing Tough Year for Crude
5. Regarding border, California, CARB, partners, and ports:
Border
- Borderlands: Lean Solutions Group making big moves in Mexico
- Feds invest $5M to ease Peace Bridge border crossing wait times for trucks
- Gordie Howe International Bridge to open in Fall 2025
- US, Mexican partnership to expand international rail car-ferry service
California
- California Delays Advanced Clean Fleets Enforcement
- Daily Infographic: California leads the United States in electric vehicles and charging locations
CARB
- CARB sets April 1 effective date for ‘smog check’ regulation
- CARB’s periodic emissions testing program takes effect April 1
Partners
Ports
- Georgia DOT awards contract to raise bridge near Savannah port, accommodate bigger ships
- Port Leaders Cautiously Optimistic for 2024
- Ports Report Mixed Results in November
- Ports Upgrades & Tariffs on China Complicate Truck Transportation for 2024
6. Regarding classification, employment, pay, recruitment, shortage, and testing:
Classification
Employment
- Economic Strength Persists With 216,000 New Jobs in December
- Truck transportation jobs trend higher while warehouses shed workers
- Trucking jobs down in 2023
Pay
Recruitment
- Driver Recruitment Success Hinges on Freight Turnaround
- Red Flags: When hiring drivers, dig past obvious signals on MVR
Shortage
Key parts of the article linked in this section include:
What Georgia does lack – along with the rest of the country and a good chunk of the free world – is qualified applicants who actually want the job. Many drivers out there simply won’t work for what the jobs pay. Sure, there are other reasons: too little home time, poor communication, old equipment, etc. But virtually all such reasons become tolerable if the pay is high enough. …
By helping recruit even more rookies, though, it is addressing the wrong end of the new-driver pipeline. The real problem is retention, and it won’t meaningfully improve until drivers earn enough to make all the demands of the job worthwhile. That can’t happen as long as the pipeline is full and flowing. Even if they don’t stay long, all those newbies pouring into the industry help keep wages low.
Do you agree or disagree?
Please comment through the form below.
Testing
- FMCSA announces random drug and alcohol testing rates for truckers in 2024
- Georgia ‘modernizes’ CDL skills testing process
7. Regarding crashes, drugs, fatalities, missing, and theft:
Crashes
Please look through these articles to see if there is anything you can learn to help you prevent being involved in a similar crash.
- After repeated bridge strikes, I-87 NB closure planned for the weekend
- Canadian trucking company suspended after multiple overpass crashes
- Passenger car destroyed after crashing under semi’s trailer
- Semi truck rolls down embankment and bumps into car on highway below
- Truckers in B.C. call for more training after latest overpass strike
Drugs
Never ever agree to haul illegal drugs, no matter the size of the incentive.
- $5.5 million worth of cocaine seized from commercial shipment in Texas
- Illegal blooms: Drugs found mixed with rig’s flower shipment at Texas-Mexico border
Fatalities
We express our deep sympathy — and offer our condolences — to the families of those whose loved ones died in these crashes.
Can you learn anything from the articles below that would help prevent being involved in a fatal large truck crash?
- Cause of death revealed for trucker after hazmat response in Arkansas grocery store parking lot
- Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office investigating after truck driver dead in accident at Texas gravel pit
- Idaho truck driver dies after rig struck by train
- Off-duty cop who died after crashing into big rig had BAC three times the legal limit
- Transportation Workers Have Most Fatal Workplace Incidents
- Trucker killed after failing to yield to Union Pacific train, Idaho Sheriff says
- Two motorists killed after colliding with overturned semi truck, Utah Highway Patrol says
Missing
Theft
Please do whatever is reasonable to prevent theft from your person, your tractor, and your trailer.
- Daily Infographic: Thieves spirit away 19,000 bottles of tequila from US distributor
- Drivers should take steps to protect against cargo theft year-round
- Fired Florida trucker accused of stealing former company’s semi truck
- Trucker says he will avoid Memphis after spike in armed truck robberies
8. Regarding economy, fine, inspections, insurance, leases, and tolls:
Economy
- A stagnant freight environment is expected to continue throughout 2024
- Carmakers End 2023 With High Rates, Prices Affecting Sales
- Class 8 tractor orders at healthy levels, despite December downtown, FTR reports
- Creating opportunities for growth is key to success for Western Flyer Xpress
- Prime moves into hopper trucks with highly transparent way of announcing it
- Trailer Orders Fall for First Time in Five Months in November
- Transportation capacity up again in December, prices fall faster
- US Factory Activity Shrinks for 14th Straight Month
- Vocational trucks, Mexico demand prop up Class 8 orders
- XPO is hitting record levels of LTL service
Fine
- Cummins agrees to pay ‘largest ever’ $1.675 billion fine for allegedly installing defeat devices on engines
- Cummins settles 2nd-largest-ever violation of US Clean Air Act
- Cummins to Pay $1.675 Billion Fine After Emissions Probe
Inspections
If you keep yourself and your rig in perpetual readiness for an inspection, you’ll never be caught off-guard.
- Iowa opens new inspection facility on Interstate 80; second one to come
- Protecting your investment with better roadside inspections
- The Iowa State Patrol Commercial Motor Vehicle Unit is opening two new I-80 CMV inspection facilities.
Insurance
Leases
Tolls
- Pennsylvania Turnpike toll hike goes into effect this weekend
- Pennsylvania’s annual turnpike-toll hike set to hit | State parking, CDL-testing news
- Toll Control: What invoicing method works best for your fleet?
- Toll rates go up for truckers only on Illinois Tollway as of January 1
- Tolls increase in multiple states for 2024
9. Regarding maintenance, owner operator, safety, and training:
Maintenance
Owner operator
Safety
- Close the Gaps: Fleets with blemished safety records have tools to turn things around
- Connecticut DOT issues automated traffic enforcement safety guidelines
- HDT’s Top 10 Safety & Compliance Stories of 2023
- The hidden connection between fleet safety and efficiency
- Why Quality Drivers and Safety Compliance are Key for Best Trucking Insurance Rates
- Winter Safety Tips for Commercial Vehicle Drivers
Training
- Briefly: Nebraska college building new facility for its CDL program
- Georgia adopts redesigned and streamlined process for getting CDL
- KRTS’s Matt Richardson takes the trucking industry to school
- Trucker finishes degree from the road
10. Regarding parking, parts, recalls, and roads:
Parking
- Briefly: Two Ohio rest areas to close; replacement process to take a year
- Ohio Department of Transportation to shut down multiple rest area locations until 2025
- Truck Parking Eyed in Planning for Rest Area Site in Oregon
- Truck parking issue ‘circling the lot’ in DC as some states pick up the reins
Parts
Recalls
- Freightliner M2 recall includes trucks rolling away while in park
- Stay Informed: Heavy Truck Recalls in December 2023
Roads
- Nearly 2 months after fire shut down part of I-10 in Los Angeles, California sets guards to monitor other sites
- New bridge connecting Detroit to Canada won’t open until fall 2025
11. Regarding legal, rest break, trucking, and UPS:
Legal
- Court rules CRST team drivers must be paid for some hours in sleeper berth
- Court says sleeper berth time over 8 hours is compensable
- Court says sleeper berth time over 8 hours is compensable
- Court says team truckers must be paid for sleeper berth time over eight hours
- Freedom Convey Defendant Returns to Social Media as Trial Drags into January
- GM Slams San Francisco in Lawsuit Over $108 Million Tax Bill
- Kentucky and Ohio bills would expand move-over rules
Rest break
Trucking
UPS
12. Regarding awards and skill:
Awards
- Doing what he loves: TCA Driver of the Year still having ‘a great time’ after three decades on the road
- TCA Highway Angels | January/February 2024
Skill
We congratulate the trucker in this video for preventing what would have been a very nasty, expensive, and potentially fatal crash!
My husband Mike and I wish you — and all professional truck drivers — safe travels and lots of money saving opportunities on the road.
Return from TDMST Weekly Round-Up: 2024.01.06 to our TDMST Weekly Round-Up Trucking Commentary or our Truck Drivers Money Saving Tips home page.
